


dream me, o dreamer

by starlight_sugar



Category: Campaign (Podcast)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Creatures & Monsters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-12
Updated: 2018-12-12
Packaged: 2019-09-17 02:48:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,409
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16966266
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starlight_sugar/pseuds/starlight_sugar
Summary: The werewolf transformations… are not easy. This is the kind of thing that goes without saying. (In which Zero is a werewolf.)





	dream me, o dreamer

**Author's Note:**

> This fic is part of the AUcember series, a self-made challenge where I try to write a new AU one-shot every day. This was originally posted on Tumblr on December 8th and is being cross-posted upon request. You can read all of the AUcember fics in the collection linked above.
> 
> The title of this fic comes from [Wolf Like Me](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwVX4cG6F9s) by TV on the Radio.
> 
> With thanks to Tam, who helped me think in a straight line long enough to write this.

Aava stops by the morning of the full moon with a black lace parasol, which is the most laughably ineffective sunshade that Zero has ever seen in his life. The shadows on the front step are weird, lacy shapes. If he looks close enough it looks like they’re moving, which might be a trick of the mind. It also might be Aava’s magic. **  
**

“This should be enough to get you through tonight.” She holds out a thermos. “And I left out the garlic this time.”

“Blue will appreciate that,” Zero mutters. The last time Aava put garlic in his full moon draught, Blue hadn’t been in a room with him for about three days, and he’d been pissed for a week afterwards. He takes the thermos - the glittery neon pink thermos. “Branching out in home decor?”

“It’s a long story,” Aava says. This could mean about half a dozen things, but Zero is distracted from all of them by the fact that the lace shadows on her face are definitely changing. It’s like the lace is… writhing. It’s very unsettling. “Let me know how this batch works, I tried something different.”

Zero pops the lid of the thermos open and sniffs it. It doesn’t smell like garlic, which is promising, but the garlic batch hadn’t smelled like garlic either. “Different how?”

“There are a couple ingredients that are supposed to heighten mental abilities.”

“So I might not just be a wolf?” He tilts the thermos from side to side, watching the sludge roll around inside of it. It’s fucking gross to look at, but he’s going to drink it. He always does. “You’d better not be messing with me.”

“It might not work.” Aava looks uncharacteristically serious. “I need you to understand, this is something new. If there are side effects, I need you to tell me right away.”

“How soon is right away?”

“Depends on how bad the side effects are.”

Zero looks back into the thermos. The sludge is definitely a little browner than normal. “Should I warn Blue?”

“I already did,” Aava says, which is surprising. Even without the garlic incident, Aava and Blue have never got along. Zero didn’t realize they had each other’s phone numbers. Or were capable of talking to each other without him there to intervene.

He sniffs the sludge again. “Is it going to be that bad?”

“Hopefully not.” Aava offers him the sliver of a smile, but he can see something grim in her eyes. “And it’s not too late to get a normal batch, if you’d rather not risk it.”

“Nah, what’s life without a little bit of experimentation?” Zero takes a tentative sip, ignoring the noise of protest Aava makes. The sludge is still earthy, but this time it’s also a little… perfumey. “Are there flowers in this?”

“There are flowers in all of them.”

“It tastes like flowers.”

“All of them taste like flowers,” Aava sighs. The lace has shifted so that the top half of her face is almost completely in shadow, with only the thinnest lines spider-webbing down her cheeks. “I have to go, I have other errands to run. Give Blue my worst.”

“I will when he wakes up.”

Aava grins slyly. “Late night?”

“I took away his caffeine and made him sleep, because full moons are worse when I have to deal with that.”

She laughs out loud. “Can you tell the difference?”

“I can when I’m cognizant.” And it’s true: when he’s not in full-on animal mode, Blue tends to be twitchier when he’s fully caffeinated. Zero can’t detox him, obviously - the only thing other than blood that Blue drinks these days tends to be espresso - but he can at least delay the inevitable caffeine high. It makes a difference, maybe not in Blue’s actual behavior but in how willing Zero is to deal with him.

“Good luck,” Aava says sincerely. And he knows she means it. That’s why she makes him the draught so the transformations don’t hurt so much, so he’s a little less wild, so he feels like he has some control over the whole thing.

“Thank you,” Zero says quietly. It’s not something he says enough, but Aava smiles at him like she understands everything he has to thank her for. She probably does. “Hopefully I won’t see you tonight.”

“Hopefully not,” she agrees, and leaves. The shadows from the parasol remain on the doorstep, wriggling indeterminately before fading away. Zero closes the door. He doesn’t know what the lace thing is all about, but he doesn’t want anything Aava left behind to wriggle into his home.

#

The werewolf transformations… are not easy.

This is the kind of thing that goes without saying. There is a certain type of monsterhood that is inherently difficult. Zero has to keep careful track of the moon, and what that does to him. Blue can’t go outside most hours of the day, and he has all but banned garlic from the house. Aava has all sorts of blood pacts and secret commitments that Zero is, frankly, afraid to ask about in detail. With great power comes great responsibility, sure, and that responsibility comes at the price of power.

And Zero is powerful. Oh, is he ever powerful.

The transformations, though, those have always been hard. They hurt. They hurt more before Aava, who has ways of making them easier. They hurt more before Blue, who waited months and years until Zero’s wolf form recognized him and trusted him. Zero’s pretty sure that he tried to maul Blue more than once, but just because the guy is skinny doesn’t mean he’s not tough. The wolf fought Blue, Blue fought right back, and now Blue and the wolf have an understanding.

Zero doesn’t remember what the wolf does, not really. He knows the wolf remembers things and recognizes people - recognizes Blue, mostly - but he only remembers things in flashes. Images, not thoughts. And the wolf doesn’t know what Zero knows. He has learned this the hard way, not just through mauling Blue but through things like knocking furniture over and chewing up shoes. And killing people, which might or might not be the wolf’s idea of giving Blue a gift. He’s not sure on that.

So he’s not sure what to expect when the transformation starts tonight. The sun is already down when the moon starts coming up, so Blue is outside with him in the forest. He brought a book, because of course he did. Fucking typical, Zero thinks as the hair starts growing. He’ll be there for Zero, sure, but he’ll have something to keep him busy while he does it.

But Blue stops reading as soon as the bones start cracking. He’s watching Zero. He always watches. He’s always there. It’s all Zero can think about, as the strange non-scent of vampire floods his senses. It takes a minute to realize when he has transformed fully, because he’s so busy breathing in the scent of… of Blue.

Holy shit. He can still sort of think clearly.

Zero barks. Blue sighs and snaps his book shut. “What is it, boy? Is Timmy stuck in a well?”

 _Fuck you,_  Zero would really like to say. He’s stuck growling at Blue, who seems completely unfazed by it. He drops his book into a coat pocket and wanders over to Zero, looking completely unconcerned about the fact that Zero is a giant wolf. Instead, Zero is stuck standing as Blue gets closer, and his whole world becomes his scent and his presence and his footsteps and-

Jesus. Is this what it’s like having a dog brain?

“Bark once if you understand me,” Blue says, and Zero means to bark. He really does. But something stops him. This is maybe going to be his only chance to know what it’s like being a wolf around Blue, how Blue interacts with this other part of him. He can tell Aava that the draught worked without telling Blue that it did.

Blue sighs, not looking particularly disappointed. “Oh well,” he says, and- and  _raises a hand to scratch Zero’s ear._  Zero would protest, but he kind of ends up whining anyways, because what the fuck, it turns out that actually feels really, really good. “Maybe next time. Well, let’s go kill a guy, I’m starving.”

Zero howls, just for the fuck of it. Blue gives him a fanged smile, and not a particularly kind one. “That’s the spirit.”

**Author's Note:**

> You can find me on Tumblr and Twitter @waveridden!


End file.
